Bedtime
by Fair-Ithil
Summary: Mum told her to go and get ready for bed, that she’d be up in a few minutes to tuck her in. But she had surprised her Mum with her sudden declaration of “ I want Ron to do it.” ' Bedtime through the years. No RonGinny


**Bedtime**

The summer after his first year Ginny had been ecstatic. Jumping around him, begging him to tell her everything. And Ron had snapped at her, trying to sound annoyed, but he wasn't. He was happy to see her again, but he was also happy that someone was actually interested in the happenings of his life. Sure she was just his little sister, and it was widely known that as his little sister she was required to care about what he did, but there was something more to it, even then, it was more then just a little sister's curiosity. And their mother had told her to be quiet in that tone that only mother's have, and she told Ginny to give him room to breath, that he deserved a little peace and quiet after the year he'd had.

The twins kept making cracks about it, Mum had already started warning him about the year to come, about how it would be his responsibility to watch after her, because he was her big brother and that's what big brother's do. And when he'd pointed out sharply that she had three other brothers' to look after her, Ginny had frowned. She didn't want to be to a burden to any of them, the twins had practice and detention (if that could be an occupation) and Percy quickly said that he's be busy with prefect duties and _other_ things...

Later that night after they had cleared the table and washed the dishes (he washed, she dried as always) Mum told her to go and get ready for bed, that she'd be up in a few minutes to tuck her in. But she had surprised her Mum with her sudden declaration of, "I want Ron to do it." And her mother had seemed a bit taken aback at first, but then she'd smiled and nodded. "If he wants to."

And Ron had sighed and agreed, marching up the creaky uneven stairs behind her. And she had changed into her nightgown (the white one with the maroon ribbon around the neck) and brushed her teeth and by the time she went into her room Ron was there, pulling back the worn purple comforter for her to climb in. Then he handed her Artemis, her stuffed owl, and pushed her back into her pillow before pulling the blanket up to her chin and saying good night as he turned to leave.

"Wait!"

"What Ginny?" he asked sounding very tired.

"You never told me what happened."

His shoulders slumped and he turned around trying to be very dramatic about everything.

"Fine."

And he sat down at the foot of her bed and told her everything, from the beginning. And Ginny just stared at him wide eyed, not making a peep until he got to the part where Norbert had bitten him, then she'd demanded to see his hand, and in a way that reminded him of his Mum, she looked over it, finding the white scars that the dragons teeth had left in his hand. Then she laid back down, listening until the very end where she started crying because as she put: "You could have died." But he had calmed her down, rubbing her back until her sobs had become little hiccups. Then after he's finished his tale, Ron told her not to worry, that everything had turned out all right, and to try and get some sleep. And Ginny promised she would, but Ron knew she'd be up for hours mulling over his story.

"Next year Gin, you'll be there, and you'll see for yourself. Everything will be fine. Things might even be normal. But for now go to sleep." So she closed her eyes, thinking about how proud she was of her brother and how brave he'd been, and lucky too...to have befriended Harry Potter.

The summer after his second year she was quiet. And Ron kept making silly jokes and offering her sweets, trying to make her smile. And when he finally managed to make her grin, he was overjoyed, because she hadn't smiled in so long. They'd gone to Egypt to visit Bill, something that was sure to bring a smile to her face. And it did. During the day she was all laughs and grins and jokes, until nighttime came and it was time to go to sleep in the large yellow room with two beds.

Her Mum would come in every night and tuck her in and kiss her good night. And Ginny would let her because it was comforting, and she needed comfort. But there was no point, not really. At some point during the long night, she would always creep out of her room and down the hall to Ron's. And some nights he would be awake, staring at the ceiling, almost as though he had been waiting for her. And his eyes would land on her and he'd move over, making room for her to slide in besides him. Then he'd pull the blanket up around them, and whisper good night, even if it was already six in the morning because he had too. As her big brother he had to do silly things like that when she was sad or scared. There was never reason to explain the nightmares that brought her there, and she was always grateful for it.

Other nights however he'd be fast asleep and only the sound of his softly snoring greeted her as she walked in. Then Ginny would have to wriggle into the little space left, and pull the blanket out from under Ron's sleeping form, before finally falling asleep herself. The others knew. Bill had ran into her in the hall one night, Mum would make her nightly rounds, Percy could hear her from acros the hall, and the twin, well the twins had their connections, but no one ever talked about it. She was grateful for that as well.

The summer after his third year she had been worried. Ron had broken his leg at school. And it wasn't such a big deal really, he'd broken it before, when she was eight and had dared him to jump out of the tree in their backyard. What was a big deal was the fact he'd broken it while being dragged through a tree by Sirius Black. He kept shrugging of her questions like it had been nothing. He kept saying it was none of her business.

"It is too my business Ron! You could have died! How is that not my business?"

"Well I'm not dead am I? No, now go away!" And he'd slammed the door in her face. And it had hurt because all she'd done was out of concern. But no, her stupid bother had to go and be all- _stupid_! Ginny had run to her room, intent on cleaning it before Hermione came over. She'd started throwing things into the closest and under her bed, like clothes and shoes and a stuffed owl. It wasn't until lunch that Ron came knocking.

"Can I come in?"

He didn't wait for a response; he opened the door while balancing a plate of oatmeal cookies and two cups of milk.

"What do you want?"

"I came to buy your forgiveness with a heart felt apology and a plate of Mum's cookies."

And of course she couldn't stay mad at him. Not when he offered her an apology and her favorite food in the entire world. And of course she couldn't tell him that, because as his little sister she was meant to give him a hard time about things like apologies.

"Hand over the plate and I'll think about it."

Ron had smiled, because he was out of danger. And they talked about the things that had happened over the past year, complained about Snape, Ron proudly told her about how Hermione had slapped Malfoy in some fit of insanity and rage, and Ginny told him about how Colin was sure that his younger brother would be joining him next year because Dennis, Colin's brother, had once turned their tabby cat purple.

"Well let's hope this one's a bit more sane. Or else Harry's gonna have another stalker on his hands."

She'd giggled at that since it was based in some truth. After they'd fought over the last cookie (which she won in the end) he got up to leave, taking the empty plate and glasses with him. Then just as he was about to leave he stopped. Bending down, he pulled the frayed gray owl she'd gotten when she turned three out from under the bed.

"Why was Artie down there?" Ron asked patting down the frumpy gray fur.

"Oh, I hadn't noticed it was missing."

Ron's eyes had gone wide because he hadn't noticed when exactly she'd stopped referring to Artemis as she, and when exactly she had seemingly stopped caring about the old bird. Then Ginny had spotted the look he was giving her.

"Oh c'mon Ron! I wasn't going to stay five forever! How long did you think I was going to keep the thing? It's falling apart as it is." She sighed. " I'm growing up Ron, we can't stay children forever now can we?" He smiled, leaning forward to yank at a piece of hair that was falling across her face.

"I s'pose you're right." He said though he seemed rather sad about it. Later that night he only stuck his head in to say good night and she was left sitting on her bed with the sound of his retreating footsteps ringing in her ears. And she'd decided then, she was sad too.

The summer after his fourth year had been a blur. She only spent two weeks in her own bed, and then they'd all been off to the most ancient house of Black. She got to know Sirius and she decided he was an all right guy, who while perhaps not right in the head, had a good heart was an excellent opponent for Exploding Snaps. But he also made her very sad because she imagined that Harry must be feeling the same way, tucked away in the small house with those terrible muggles he called family, utterly cut off from the world. And she told Ron that once and he has just nodded telling her that he felt the same way.

They cleaned all day long because there was in fact every little else they were allowed to do. Every night she'd collapse into her loaned bed exhausted, but every night she managed to work up the strength to have halfhearted conversations with her brother. They talked up ways to ease drop, they talked about the things going on around them, they talked about how hard things would probably be that year...and once they even talked about Percy, who had amongst them become a forbidden subject. Ron called him a lot of things that made Ginny cringe, but he looked so heart broken when he finished that she couldn't blame him. And after she told Ron that she couldn't really blame Percy either, because he was just doing what he believed in, even if what he believed in was the wrong and hurtful, and Ron had hung his head, blinking rapidly. It had been years since she'd seen him cry and it was awkward to see his shoulders shake and hear the muffled sobs.

Later in the summer, after he'd received his badge he wasn't as glad as he should have been. When she asked him what was wrong, he'd said he didn't want to be Percy. She smiled in the silly way only little sisters can smile when trying to make some else feel better and said, "Don't worry you can always be Bill." Ron just laughed.

The summer after his fifth year was quiet and they waited, because there was nothing to do but wait. More often then not they'd sit in her room talking about everything and nothing. They were alone, but they never talked about that. They sat on the lumpy mattress, a plate of stale oatmeal cookies between them, and talk. That was how they spent their days, talking, writing a letter every now and again. And Ron kept pestering her about Dean Thomas, until she finally giggled that she'd only been pulling his leg. It had felt good to giggle, because it felt as though there was little to giggle about in the world at the time. So Ginny mentioned Hermione and giggled some more as her brother turned redder than a tomato. It was almost hard to believe that the same lanky brother who had first left her all those summers ago was there, sitting before her more changed then she'd never imagined and yet, still the same.

She didn't know what she'd do without him, didn't want to know, ever.

She took care not to touch his arm, even though he said it rarely bothered him, and he took care with her ankle even though he knew it was completely healed. And they had made a silent promise to watch the others back even though aloud he strongly protested her ever joining him again, but he had to. As he big brother, it was his obligation to protect her even though he was well aware of the fact that she could hold her own. She always called him a stupid prat, though she was secretly relieved that he'd always be there for her.

Then one night as she got into bed he came in without knocking to say good night. Ginny had glared, declaring her need for privacy, even though she hadn't meant it.

"G'night." She said lying back.

"Good night Gin."

Then Ron surprised her. He walked over to her, pulled the faded purple comforter up to her chin, tucked Artemis in bedsides her, and kissed her on the forehead.

"Good night."

Then he walked out of the room without turning back. Hugging Artemis to her, she closed her eyes.

"Good night Ron."

END


End file.
